Uniforms, vehicle & travel entitlements

As part of their job, employees may be required to:

  • wear uniforms
  • drive vehicles and/or
  • travel to other locations.

In these situations, an employee may be entitled to a payment or repayment, depending on the industry and the job they do.

Employees required to buy work related items can’t be forced by their employer to use their wages to pay for these items, if the requirement is unreasonable.

If you're covered by an enterprise agreement or other registered agreement, payments for uniforms, vehicles and travel will be contained in your agreement. To find an agreement, go to the Fair Work Commission website external-icon.png .

Find more information about payments for uniforms, vehicles and travel in your award by selecting from the list below.

Clerks Award

Based on what you've told us, it looks like you're covered by the Clerks - Private Sector Award [MA000002].

Uniform entitlements

An employee may have to do work that requires special clothing or work that damages their clothing or footwear.

Special clothing includes:

  • uniforms (eg. shirts with the company logo on them)
  • items worn for workplace health and safety reasons (eg. protective aprons and protective footwear).

If an employee has to wear special or protective clothing or footwear, the employer has to:

  • provide the clothing or footwear or
  • reimburse the employee for the cost of the clothing or footwear.

The employer also has to pay an employee an allowance to cover washing costs, where the employee has to wash any special clothing.

For allowance amounts, go to Penalty rates and allowances.

Vehicle and travel entitlements

Vehicle and transport costs

When an employee is asked to use their own vehicle for work purposes they get a vehicle allowance. For allowance amounts, go to Penalty rates and allowances.

When an employer provides a vehicle to an employee for work purposes, the employer has to pay all registration, running and maintenance costs.

A shiftworker has to be reimbursed the cost of any transport when:

  • they finish later or earlier than their normal time
  • a reasonable means of transport isn’t available
  • the employer doesn’t provides suitable transport.

Travel costs and travel time

When an employee has to work away from their normal workplace temporarily and they have to sleep away from their home they get an allowance to cover:

  • all fares to and from the temporary workplace
  • all reasonable expenses for board and lodging.

The allowances aren’t paid where the employer provides fares, board and lodging.

Employees travelling between their normal workplace and the temporary workplace have to be paid ordinary pay rates for time spent travelling (capped at 8 hours in 24 hours).

To find out more about who this award applies to, go to the Clerks Award summary.

Source reference: Clerks - Private Sector Award [MA000002] clause 19.4, 19.6-19.8 external-icon.png

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Source reference: Fair Work Act 2009 ss.325(1) external-icon.png

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Mistakes can happen. The best way to fix them usually starts with talking.

Check out our Fixing a workplace problem section for practical advice on:

  • figuring out if a mistake has been made
  • talking to your employer or employee about fixing it
  • getting help from us if you can't resolve it.

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